Crabtree, Adam

In an "Historical Introduction," Crabtree examines the history of animal magnetism, and points out its impact on medicine, psychology, and parapsychology. He adds: "The histories of animal magnetism, hypnotism, and psychical research are inextricably intertwined. As will be evident from the annotated entries in the bibliography, the literature of any one of these areas cannot but include the literature of the other two" (p. xvi). Although the bibliography is aimed at including "the literature of animal magnetism and those streams of thought that can be identified as flowing directly from it" (p. xvii), the literature is too vast to include all of it. Thus it is limited to only the most significant writings arising from animal magnetism and to "only those works that are immediately connected with animal magnetism and the themes that arise directly from it" (p. xvii). The list of areas omitted "are works that deal exclusively with occultism, possession, or witchcraft; theosophy, anthroposophy, Christian Science, or other spiritual philosophies; theology or religious thought; and conjuring or stage magic. While spiritualist writings have true importance for the history of animal magnetism and its offshoots, only those works have been included here that depict its development from mesmeric influences or that play a significant role in the rise of psychical research. This means that the bibliography does not include stories about clairvoyants, seers, or prophets; books relating communications from spirits; spiritualistic speculations about the afterlife or related matters; and collections of ghost-lore" (p. xvii). The bibliography ranges from 1766-1925. Annotations are provided for about one-third of the items listed (those considered to be the most important works). The bibliography is arranged by year with works listed alphabetically by author under each year. Each item contains a letter designating that it is about hypnotism [H], psychical research [P], or both [H & P]. There is a useful glossary that contains many parapsychological terms used in the literature of the time period covered by the book.